With 708,619 cases and 18,014 deaths at the time of
writing, the country is constantly teetering between an economic
catastrophe and an explosive spread of the virus which remains impervious to
the ever stricter measures of confinement.
The popular Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has reached an
impasse, constantly printing money to distribute to the unemployed and
shuttered businesses, with seemingly no plans to revive the economy and an
inability to promptly secure a vaccine for its 38 million inhabitants. The
government plans to spend $322.3 billion on business and population relief of
which, according to the national broadcaster, CBC, it had already dispersed
$240 billion as of the end of November.
To complicate matters, in the midst of the crisis, Justin
Trudeau was implicated in the infamous “WE” scandal when his government
approved a $900 million contract to the aforementioned NGO whose
co-presidents were personal friends of the Prime Minister and had paid large
sums to his mother Margaret for public speaking engagements.
Trudeau’s Finance Minister, Bill Morneau, was forced to
resign as a result of the scandal as he partook in approving the contract while
having accepted free travel from the organization, contrary to Canada’s code of
conduct.
Currently, another scandal is haunting the
internationally popular prime minister given that his government decided to
order vaccines from China—orders that have been neither approved nor
fulfilled—leaving behind potential supplies from major U.S. and European
manufacturers.
To date, the country has vaccinated only 1.55% of the
population, far behind other western countries, leaving frontline doctors
and hospital staff indignant and nursing homes taking court action over
the delay.
Regardless, the Prime Minister continues to reassure the
population that all is well and that all those who want a vaccine will get
one by the end of September.
In the meantime, Canada is teetering on the limits of the
absurd. Its borders have been closed since March with all non-Canadians barred
from entering the country. Returning citizens are still leaving its
airports without their temperature being taken nor being subjected to any
rapid testing for the diagnosis of the virus. A strict 14-day quarantine
continues to be imposed on those entering the country regardless of their
condition while the land border with the U.S. has remained closed since last April.
Passport renewal offices as well as the issuance of diplomatic
visas at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs remain dormant resulting in citizens
without valid passports having to wait until the end of the crisis before being
able to travel.
All restaurants and retail have been locked down in Ontario
and Quebec, Canada's most populous provinces. Only grocery stores, pharmacies
and banks remain open. Indoor gatherings are strictly forbidden with only one
visitor allowed in houses with only one resident.
At the same time, huge queues form outside the
government-run monopolies that sell alcohol and cannabis. Citizens are outraged
that retail shops suffer while young people are permitted to buy booze and hash
that are consumed in secret parties that are major sources of transmission of
the virus.
The chaos is worsening with Justin Trudeau now threatening
to ban all flights leaving Canada. The country’s main carriers, Air Canada and
WestJet, continue to protest, pointing out that the government’s policies are
“incoherent and inconsistent” to no avail. Left with little choice, they
continue to lay off thousands.
Restaurants, a large majority of which are Greek-owned, are
dying with modelling showing that 30% may never re-open once public money stops
flowing.
And all this chaotic, untenable dependence on public
money has created an environment that has Justin Trudeau smiling smugly, anxiously
waiting for the earliest opportunity to call a snap election and improve his
government’s standing to a majority.
